My X-8 bird comes along these days But I have this strange problem. MK-tools says that I'm missing 4 BL's. I can't run motor test on motor 5-8. I think I have done all the proper firmware updates and set up the mixer as described in the Herhules manual. Any thoughts?
Bo, do you have the ribbon cable correctly plugged into top -> bottom plate to join them? Do you have LED's on the bottom plate when powered?
Here is a puzzle. After the first flight of the Herkules, I notice that ALL of the CLOCKWISE motors are carrying heavy amps. The mixer settings are practically the same as the last X8, but the amps draw here is very weird. It flies nicely but I can't put it back up like this. It has myself and an esteemed colleague stumped. The bottom props are mounted correctly, and the amp draw is whacky on top and bottom motors, with the commonality of rotation being the issue. Anyone who solves this gets a lobster dinner in Boston. Thanks for looking. gpx and mixer file included as well. Check out the GPS3 sat count. I'm usually 7 - 8.
This is very strange. Just started testing my X8 with Herkules III today to fine tune the mixer settings and have a similar issue. Thats with a 64 / 71 mixer setting: And here is a comparison to a different mixer setting that had numbers that were for the most part closer together but caused a lot of vibrations (64 / 66 ): For both tests I was hovering manual in a 4ft radius. I have two questions: 1) Why does the highest value never exceed 25.5A? 2) Why would the CW spinning motors draw more than the CCW? This would only make sense if they would have to fight a yaw movement, or?
1) I'm not quite sure what leads you to infer that the current will "never exceed" 25.5A. Try a short test flight where you make the aircraft climb aggressively for a few tens of feet. If, after that, you don't see more than 25.5A during the climb, that would suggest that it's either a sensor or a software problem. 2) The first thing I would check is to make sure that all the motors are absolutely vertical -- as you intimated, you might have a motor that is out of alignment and is introducing a yawing component that the flight controller is having to compensate for. Andy.
Exactly - I have never seen a higher value from the MK/Herkulese combo. During the last test flight last year I did some extreme climbs and also only got 25.5A. Today during I was only hovering - again with a max of 25.5A. And I think it would be very odd if Mike just randomly would also hit 25.5A. Now the question is: a) Is the Hercules not reporting correctly b) Does the MK not interpret the data correctly That would definitely be a plausible explanation - though I am flying a Gryphon FZX frame and there isn't any way (unlike e.g. the Cinestar) to align the motors. Instead of using round CF tubes (again like the Cinestar) its based on an angular build that by design has to be aligned. I was searching for more info on the MK X8 mixer and came across this post the other day: http://forum.mikrokopter.de/topic-post487025.html#post487025 Basically its saying that the bigger values for the bottom X8 motors seems to have worked the best and that the precise value has to be tested in pratice. The test is an aggressive climb - if the copter yaws the mixer value for the bottom motors either has to be increased or decreased (trial and error). This would be a possible explanation... if, only if it would make any sense. I could follow that logic if e.g. all CW motors would be on top and all CCW motors would be on the bottom. But as its 50/50 I don't really get it. Anyways - I am curious to hear from other people that have more experience with the Mk/Herk III combo. Cheers!
Hmm. Sounds to me like the 25.5 Amps is a sensor or firmware error and "something, somewhere" is incapable of reporting a value larger than 25.5 Amps. If, for example that number was in units of .1 Amps and represented in a single binary eight bit byte it would be 0 to 255. Or....wait for it....25.5 Amps. Hmmm. Just sayin'.... Andy.
Good thinking! I will start with down grading to an older MK firmware and see if anything changes.. Thanks.
I'm seeing the same thing - max. 25,5 Amps... could you please share your results of the downgrading. Cheers
SO, I've been totally down and out with the flu. Back a bit now. The weather has not been allowing flight testing so I'm not too bad. Here's an update for the mysterious "Only clockwise props get maxed out"-itis. I've consulted extensively with Mike McVay in this (Thanks Mike) and Uwe from MikroKopter has weighed in to claim his lobster dinner. Here is what he said: Well Mike, let me try to explain the puzzle. - It has absolutely nothing to do with the settings and the mixer. - Your frame is crooked. - One of your rigger is twisted. That's the answer of your AMP puzzle and an easy earned dinner for me. Let me see what's going on when the board comes in. Greetings from Germany. This is similar with What Mike and Andy have suggested and may have something to do with the fact that my initial ACC calibration was not done with the Frame all tightened down because I was still booming. I did use a nice Bosch laser level, but it's possible that things may have twisted a bit. I use all aluminum (That's Aluminium for you Andy) knuckles so it should stay in place when I do get it sorted out. I'm going to recheck everything and see if Uwe gets the dinner. I hope he does. I hope that this fixes it and is a lesson shared.
It would be nice if thats the solution - but I doubt it, as I have the issue with the Gryphon and every motor should be as level as it can be. And the question still is: how can we get the actual Amp reading? The 25.5A is useless as its just some number - definitely not the max Amp draw. Thats clear as I got the same number during a hover flight at around 40% stick input and at a rapid climb probably closer to 80%. Is there anybody out there that get the "real" Amp values from the Herkules board in the MK logs?
Hey Guys, Just thought I would chime in. Tim sent me a message. I have been flying out Herk system for a while now without any issues. Here are 3 screenshots from our last shoot. One thing to note is I am using 2 of the QUAD XL boards. Not an octo board. Josh
Thanks for joining the conversation, Josh. Have you ever had any Amp values above 25.5A? Also does MK Capacity log match up with what you put back into the batteries? Cheers!
@Mike: Hope you're over your viral upgrade! I've larned meself to rite aluminum reel good....I think different too. Andy.
@ Tim - I have 2 values of 8 that are exactly 25.5, the rest are slightly below. I only have 1 log which reaches that much draw, can post it if you like
Hi guys, its me. some clarification: 1) Herkules III current sensor interface to Mikrokopter: Herkules III measures internally the individual motor current from 2...250Ampere. So also high peak currents are measured. Herkules "emulates" the telemetry software Interface to Mikrokopter similar to the MK BL2.0. Here the maximum current is limited to 25.5A because the transmission is done with 8 bit data (255 steps) with a resolution of 0.1A per step. So max. 25.5A are read by Mikrokopter Software! This is NOT a bug, its a feature ;-) related to MK philisophy. Normally this is no problem as soon the average current of motors stays below 25A. This is sufficient to count the used mAh from the battery pretty well as the short peak currents contribute only a few mAh during the total flight (for sure it depends on the aggressive flight behaviour of each individual pilot). (If using the Herkules specific Telemetry Interface together with non-I2C flight controls like DJI, the full resolution current (up to 250A) is logged and transmitted via Telemetry.) So here you can get the full data. Btw: This is also written in the Herkules User Manual, page 85: (RTFM ;-) 2) Ampere difference between TOP and BOT Motors: This is a difficult story. Usually its normal in Coax mounted motors that the TOP motors will have higher current than the BOT motors as they contribute the main part of the thrust at each arm. The BOT motors are fully in the "high air flow" and blown from the TOP motors. Thats why they have to do less power comparte to the TOP mots. To compensate this, the lower motors should run with about 5....15% more thrust setpoint than the upper motors. In ther Herkules User manual is an example with 64/71 in the mixer table we had good experience with. Depending on the Motor type, propeller type and mounting angle, this values might be optimized individually. So i would start with this setting and then tweak all top or bottom motors to equalize the power on all motors. See below: I hope this helps a bit. In case of further "miracles" and questions on Herkules ESCs, feel free to contact me. Andreas B. www.andreasbaier.de